What is the Full Form of ED?

The full form of ED is Enforcement Directorate. ED comes under the ambit of the Department of Revenue, Ministry of Finance, Government of India and its main work involve fighting economic-related crimes and enforcing laws related to economics in India. The Directorate of Enforcement consists of officers from prominent services in India such as Indian Administrative Service, Indian Police Service and Indian Revenue Service. 

History of Enforcement Directorate 

Headquartered in New Delhi, Originally ED was established on May 1, 1956, as an Enforcement unit under the Department of Economic Affairs for carrying out the provisions of the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act of 1947. Later in 1957, the unit was renamed as Enforcement Directorate. 

Functions of ED 

The Enforcement Directorate is responsible to carry out the provisions of the Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999 (FEMA), the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA), the Fugitive Economic Offenders Act, 2018 (FEOA) and the Conservation of Foreign Exchange and Prevention of Smuggling Activities Act, 1974 (COFEPOSA). 

Hierarchy in the Enforcement Directorate 

ED recruits officers as Assistant Enforcement Officers, after which they further climb the hierarchical order in the following manner – Assistant Enforcement Officer (AEO) —> Enforcement Officer –>Assistant Director —> Deputy Director—-> Joint Director—>Special Director-Director. They are also some officers that are hired on a deputation level and are employed on a temporary basis of 2 to 5 years in ED. 

Regional and Sub-Regional Offices of  Enforcement Directorate 

The Enforcement Directorate has various offices all over India that carries out the various functions of the organisation. The organisation has 5 regional offices – Mumbai, Chennai, Chandigarh, Kolkata and Delhi (headed by special directors of ED), 16 zonal offices (headed by a joint director) and 14 sub-zonal offices (headed by a deputy director). 

So, this was ED full form and other important information related to this important organisation in India. For more such informative articles keep following our page.